Free trade zones to drive industrial innovation and trade growth in Cambodia

Khmer Times, Opinion, 14 November 2025 (Link)

Around the world, supply chains are being reshaped by new technologies, shifting cost structures, diversification of supply chain and evolving trade frameworks and tension, which have accelerated relocation from traditional manufacturing hubs.

For many countries, this moment presents both a challenge and a clear opportunity to connect more deeply with regional value chains.

Cambodia is still in the conceptualisation stage of the free trade zone (FTZ), the development of which has gone through rigorous multistakeholder consultations, and of course international cooperation from partners such as the government of China and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

There should be three contexts to consider when discussing about Cambodia’s development of FTZ.

First, FTZ’s development is part and parcel of Cambodia’s coastal development master plan.

The plan runs from 2025 to 2040, covering four provinces with a total area of nearly 18,000 square kilometers. It consists of 141 sub-projects with a total estimated investment of $ 15–20 billion.

By embedding FTZ development within this broader plan, Cambodia aims to ensure that industrial growth is not a standalone project, but part of a durable, well-sequenced national strategy.

Second, factory relocation.

Economisation of foreign embassies in Cambodia

Khmer Times, Opinion, 25 September 2025 (Link)

There are two major trends that have spurred the economisation of foreign embassies in Cambodia. One is Cambodia’s planned graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status in 2029, and the other is Cambodia’s boycott of Thailand-made products.

Cambodia is scheduled to effectively graduate from LDC status in 2029 and partner countries are supporting Cambodia in the process to ensure smooth transition through market enlargement, trade facilitation and enhancement of production capacity, among others.

It is encouraging to note that the evolution of the partnership, once primarily focused on politics and aid, towards a multifaceted cooperation that includes more exchanges in terms of trade and economic activities has gained positive momentum.

Key partner countries have begun to create a trade, investment and economic portfolio within their embassy staff rosters, and those that already have this portfolio are finding themselves adding more economic staff to the team to meet the growing need for specialisation and dedicated resources.

There are multiple examples to look at.

For instance, the British Embassy is very proud that the British architectural firm Foster and Partners participated in the design of Techo International Airport, a modern and breathtaking airport, at least from the perspective of the Cambodian people, thus inscribing the name of the Cambodian airport on the list of world-class airports. A Cambodian delegation recently visited the United Kingdom to learn about the process of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Imagining peace and healing between eternal neighbors, Cambodia and Thailand

Khmer Times, Opinion, 13 August 2025 (Link)

Every peace-loving Cambodian and Thai wake up to read news that could hurt our inner souls and blur our human compassion; news that continues to create hatred, anger, and resentment that eventually dominate our hearts and leave us with deep wounds, to the point that we wonder if our human hearts will ever heal anytime soon.

There are two key sets of questions related to peace and healing.

We constantly wonder when peace can reign and be assured between the two eternal neighbors? Will it be tomorrow? Next week, next month, or next year?

What remedies should heal the wounds of our hearts?

This is a mental exercise that peace-loving Cambodians and Thais practice unconsciously, trying to connect with their innermost souls.

Among many thoughts, here are four elements of thought that may cross their minds as they seek to guide their minds toward peace and healing.

1. Think about families

Cambodia has seven provinces bordering Thailand: Koh Kong, Pursat, Battambang, Pailin, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, and Preah Vihear, stretching over 800 kilometers.

With such a long border, it is inevitable that the two people share many things including “blood”. There are Khmers who are married to Thais and vice-versa. There are “mixed-blood” children who cannot separate or cut their flesh from purely Khmer or Thai.

These are silent groups who want nothing more than peace because if anything happens, they know they will have to kill some of their brothers and sisters, relatives or distant relatives who have mixed blood.

2. Think about friends

Thailand’s Threat Game–Self-Destructive Maneuvers Based on Outdated Information

Khmer Times, Opinion, 25 June 2025 (Link)

Following a brief border skirmish between Cambodia and Thailand that led to the killing of a Cambodian soldier on May 28, 2025, tensions have been escalated in other areas especially restrictions of border crossings and transnational economic activities.

The tit-for-tat restrictive measures are textbook examples of how interdependence has been exploited for national security at the expense of bourgeoning trade relations that benefit both sides.

Interdependence used to be the cornerstone of peacebuilding, and confidence-building.

A unilateral series of border measures was ordered by Bangkok on June 6, ranging from closures and arbitrary hours at major border crossings like Poipet, which have interrupted flows of goods and people from both sides.

In response, on June 13, the Cambodian government shut down the Doung border crossing in Battambang province that has led to significant congestion, with many trucks loaded with Thai produce stranded at the border.

On June 17, Cambodia banned all imports of Thai fruit and vegetables in response to Thailand’s refusal to fully open all border checkpoints.

On June 21, Military Region 2 of the Thai army informed about its unilateral decision to close Choub Korki border checkpoint at Oddar Meanchey province. In response, Cambodia also decided to close another checkpoint at Choam, together with Choub Korki checkpoint.

Using international law to create peaceful borders between eternal neighbours

Khmer Times, Opinion, 12 June 2025 (Link)

Tensions on the Cambodian-Thai border have created a toxic atmosphere of ultra-nationalism. With assistance from Google Translate, it’s possible to understand how extremists on both sides express themselves about their neighbors on social media, using Khmer and Thai to mask international censorship of hate speech.

One group demanded that the other country be wiped off the world map.

The language of hatred and rejection of another nation, as well as the promotion of revision of history or the revival of past imperial glory, dominate their discussions.

Some asked “what if” questions, such as “if France weren’t there.”

Both sides display a condescending attitude, arguing over who is more superior, more civilised, who has more, and who loses more.

Some have accused Cambodia of playing on victim narratives. But who can escape such memories when, throughout its 500-year history, Cambodians have heard nothing but defeats, wars, invasions, and occupations?

This has been Cambodia’s position in world history. Cambodia must live with it.

Cambodia has lost more than its history can record: 500 years of chaos, internal disunity, and wars driven by contested borders, survival, and existence.

For Cambodians, remembering history means describing the vastness of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from the 9th to the 15th centuries, representing the highest level of civilisation in continental Southeast Asia, and the period of decline that followed.

These two contradictory periods have shaped the pride and complexion of Cambodian people.

A look at the long-term growth of Cambodia-Japan relations

Khmer Times, Opinion, 2 July 2024 (Link)

Looking back in history, in the 1990s-2000s, for Cambodia and Japan bilateral relations, discussion used to focus on the Official Development Assistance (ODA); we talked a lot about grant, loans; and observers of Cambodia-Japan relations should be familiar with the so-called Consultative Group (CG) Meeting for Cambodia held at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) to decide how much amount of ODA Cambodia should receive.

Starting from late 2000s, the topics of discussion began to gradually shift to trade, business and investment. In the early 2000s, the amount of bilateral trade was equivalent to the total amount of ODA, including loans, that Cambodia received from Japan. The Agreement for the Liberalisation, Promotion and Protection of Investment was signed in October 2007 between then Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Based on this agreement, the Cambodia-Japan Joint Committee Meeting was established in 2009 to discuss and address concerns raised by Japanese investors in Cambodia.

In the early 2010s, when there were factors pushing for diversification of Japan’s supply chain in East and Southeast Asia, we saw a very small number of daring Japanese companies like Minebea and AEON who were willing to bet on Cambodia while the majority of Japanese companies were looking at some other countries as their frontier markets.

These two companies have built their business bases in Cambodia since early time, and the fact that they have been expanding their businesses speaks loud and clear about the dynamic business opportunities of Cambodia both in terms of production and supply chain as well as consumption market. In short, these two companies have enjoyed considerable first-mover advantages thank to their confidence in Cambodia’s business climate.

The two countries upgraded their ties to Strategic Partnership in 2013.

In 2015, we saw the completion of Neak Loeung Bridge or Tsubasa Bridge; we talked about how we can eliminate the bottleneck of the Southern Economic Corridor for the Greater Mekong Subregion as well as ASEAN. In fact, Tsubasa bridge has a larger significance beyond Cambodia, to the Mekong and ASEAN.

Slowly and gradually, Cambodia has become an important part of the larger Japan’s strategy for the Mekong and ASEAN.

And that is not limited to the discussion about economic and investment strategies or the establishment of Japan’s supply chain in ASEAN but it goes also to the level of political and security spectrum.

More importantly, we have observed that the dialogue has become increasingly two-way, not just Cambodia being passive without any role to play in the bilateral relations that are closely tied with regional political and economic landscape.

We have seen the two countries begin to exchange views on regional and international issues.

Beyond the exchange of views, we also saw how the two countries advanced joint concrete actions for the sake of regional peace, stability and prosperity.

For example, Cambodia and Japan have discussed, through official and unofficial channels, how the region can find solutions to bring Myanmar back to normalcy.

We discussed how we could provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine through mine clearance.

We discussed how Cambodia and Japan can work together in peacekeeping cooperation.

Looking far back to the 1990s, who would have thought that Japan would choose a partnership with Cambodia to discuss and take joint actions on the issues of Myanmar and Ukraine?

No one expected this to happen, and yet both countries took concrete steps in the interest of regional and global peace. Indeed, these discussions began when Cambodia chaired ASEAN in 2022, but our cooperation on these issues continues until today.

It is therefore fair to say that the above expanded dynamism of bilateral cooperation resulted in the creation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries in 2023.

We are now talking more about how our two nations can continue to promote our “peace-branding” regionally and globally.

In the future, as Japanese society ages and Cambodia moves toward an upper-middle-income economy in 2030 and a high-income economy in 2050, future discussions will focus on how Cambodia can contribute to the solution of Japan’s problems and vice versa.

We could one day establish a Cambodia-Japan free trade agreement; or we can set up and facilitate visa-free travel for Cambodian and Japanese tourists.

Among many other areas of cooperation, we are probably thinking more about how we can promote Cambodia’s role within Japan’s production and supply chain in Southeast Asia? How can Cambodia become Japan’s logistics hub in the Mekong region? How can Cambodia and Japan become strong trading partners, bilaterally and multilaterally? How can Cambodian Oknhas purchase Japanese technologies to drive innovation and build a stronger industrial base? How can Cambodia and Japan build regional infrastructure for the digital economy?

The above discussion has shed light on the evolution of relations between Cambodia and Japan over the past 30 years, after Japan reopened her embassy in 1992.

From purely one-sided dialogue relations characterized by grant, donation, and rehabilitation, to two-way economic partners characterized by increased trade, investment, and tourism, and to even two-ways dialogue and up to three-dimensional discussions about the Mekong and ASEAN, and even about peace issues in countries in faraway continents, the horizon for growth is vast for Cambodia-Japan bilateral relations that can contribute to regional and global peace, security and sustainable economic development.

So this is a long journey that we have traveled together, and we have to recognize Japan’s significance role in the early stage of Cambodia’s peacebuilding and the building of Cambodia’s self-confidence in terms of socio-economic development and institutional capacity.

For this we owe our gratitude to Japan.

Cambodia-China Community with a Shared Future from the Security Perspective

Letter to Editor, Freshnews, 19 June 2024 (Link)

Cambodia and China always extend mutual support when it comes to the issues of core interests. For them, this is the real essence of a Cambodia-China Community with a Shared Future.

In a turbulent international environment, Cambodia and China attach great importance to the sanctity of their respective core national interests, independence, sovereignty and self-determination on the path of development.

For instance, The Chinese side always firmly supports the Cambodian people's choice of a development path suited to Cambodia's national conditions, Cambodia's efforts to safeguard its independence, sovereignty, security and development interests, and the steady advancement of Cambodia's important national political agenda, while expressing its firm opposition to any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Cambodia.

The Cambodian side always firmly adheres to the One-China policy. Cambodia regards the government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate government representing the whole of China, opposes any attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs by supporting separatist activities, and resolutely supports all China's efforts to achieve national reunification.

Mutual assistance in protecting core national interests, independence, sovereignty and self-determination can be regarded as the overriding principle of Cambodia-China relations. Based on this primordial principle, the two countries are developing multifaceted security cooperation.

Although there are many types of securities, such as economic securities, etc., this article will look at two aspects of bilateral cooperation, namely military-to-military cooperation and Covid-19 cooperation. Next, it will address security cooperation at the regional and global levels.

Military Cooperation

For Cambodia, bilateral military cooperation with China is one of the most dynamic and comprehensive relations that Cambodia has. It defines the robustness of Cambodia-China security cooperation.

China was the only country with which Cambodia conducted military exercises during and immediately after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2016, Cambodia and China have held the Golden Dragon military exercise five times. In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 epidemic, Cambodia was the first and only foreign country with which China conducted a military exercise. The joint naval exercise before the official start of the Golden Dragon-2023 joint drills marked a high level of comprehensive military exchange and cooperation between China and Cambodia.

Indeed, military cooperation between Cambodia and China goes beyond frequent military exercises. China's supplies of military equipment, training and scholarships to Cambodia often make headlines regarding the breadth and depth of security cooperation between Cambodia and China.

Of note, on 8 June 2022 Cambodia broke ground on the construction of upgrades to the country’s naval capacity through the modernisation of Ream Naval Base. The groundbreaking ceremony kicked off the construction project to rehabilitate the dry dock, pier and slipway along with the construction of a vessel maintenance workshop. The port at Ream Naval Base is currently too shallow at just 7m in depth, but after its rehabilitation it will be able to dock medium-sized vessels.

Despite various accusations about a possible presence of Chinese troops on Cambodian soil, Cambodia has made it known that its Constitution does not authorize foreign military bases or a foreign military presence on Cambodian soil. Cambodia also explained the need to renovate the base, which only serves to strengthen the country's naval capabilities so that Cambodia can protect its maritime integrity and combat crime on the high seas.

Covid-19 Cooperation

Time to accept Cambodia as it is

Khmer Times, Opinion, 23 January 2023 (Link)

In his memoir, Lee Kuan Yew remarked that Cambodia’s “present leaders,” meaning Hun Sen, “are the product of bitter, relentless struggles in which opponents were either eliminated or neutralized. They are utterly merciless and ruthless, without humane feelings.”

This is the general view of foreign observers over Cambodian leaders. But was it a correct view about Cambodia and Cambodian leaders?

Back then, Singapore was not alone in despising Cambodian leaders whom they treated as Vietnam’s puppet. Many countries put sanction on Cambodia and the remaining few million Cambodian survivors. Many countries provided legitimacy and weapons to, and conducted trade with the Khmer Rouge. The anti-Vietnam and anti-communism sentiment had justified those countries’ being as Khmer Rouge sympathizers.

For now, we have the benefit of re-evaluating history in hindsight.

For now, we could understand that being a Khmer Rouge sympathizer was a mistake against the surviving Cambodian people.

This was the past mistake of foreign observers, and they should learn from that mistake by trying to understand what Cambodian leaders think. They have to remove their own stubborn and rigid ideological and geopolitical frames if they want to understand better about Cambodian leaders.

Was Hun Sen really  Vietnam’s puppet? Was Hun Sen a communist dictator?

By reviewing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s five-hour testimony in the National Assembly on the border issues between Cambodia and Vietnam on 9 August 2012, and his 64-page written statement dated 8 September 2015, one would have wondered why would Vietnam spend more than 40 years to negotiate border issues with its puppet?

If one can read Prime Minister Hun Sen’s book entitled, “10 Years of Cambodia’s March: 1979-1989”, one can re-evaluate what was the situation and challenges that Cambodian leaders were facing, and evaluate their leadership’s approaches and perspectives.

From the book, one can observe that Hun Sen is not an ideologue. He is a pragmatist that cares the most for the nation’s survival and people’s livelihood. He adopted market economy and partial privatization well before Vietnam did. He initiated peace negotiation with the then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk despite internal opposition within his party. He invited the United Nations to broker Cambodian peace and to station in Cambodia despite the fear of losing sovereignty and foreign domination. He was not a dictator as he was trying to mobilize consensus and support from within his party since the beginning. His approach is still the same. He never made a decision in silo, with a complete lack of information or consultation.

All of these historical decisions defined the quality and capability of Cambodian leaders, and those surrounding them.

Cambodian post-war memory and the generation gap

Opinion, Khmer Times, 24 January 2019 (Link)

Reactions to the Khmer movie related to genocide, or more precisely “self-genocide”, were mixed. There were those who didn’t want to see the movie for fear of rekindling past wounds and trauma-related stress. They didn’t want to experience pain and weep for days.

There were some who fear that history would repeat itself and the same atrocities would happen again. On the other extreme, there were those who were indifferent and emotionless. Frankly, they would not have given a damn. Also in this category, were those who rejected the film saying the genocide was a mere figmentation of the moviemaker.

. .

Nonetheless, such differences stem from individual experiences and exposures.

As someone from the post-genocide generation, I belong to the group that fears the repeat of history.

Born in the 1980s, in the immediate aftermath of the war, it was the prevailing environment that shaped my thoughts. My father was a soldier, who went to the frontline to fight against the Khmer Rouge. At school, a ‘fatherless son’ was a common target for the bullies.

A study tour to Toul Sleng prison is a one-time memory that stays on forever. Some parts of the walls are still stained with dried blood. The smell and ambiance from building-to-building makes one feel that the spirits are demanding your attention. I never did dare climb up to the third floor. The current museum, however, is quite clean and is what a museum should be.

Every year on January 7, I remember three major films which are often highlighted on TV – ‘Killing Fields’, ‘Nine Circles of Hell’ and ‘Memory of the Heart’ (chet chong cham).

. .

I recall the days of my childhood. Phnom Penh was dark and quiet after the evening curfew. Kids dominated the whole street playing and chasing each other after nightfall. The then Soviet Union’s ‘Rabbit and Fox’ on TV was the kids’ favourite, similar to that of ‘Tom and Jerry’. TV broadcast was only in the evenings and the cartoon was shown regularly.

At night, I always heard melancholy music from the radio, appealing the Khmer Rouge to integrate into society. News was always about siege of particular battle fields. Sometimes, I heard the government forces won; sometimes, I heard the government was fighting to regain the same area they had earlier captured.

The sound of gunfire was a usual part of life. It was normal for people to point their weapons in the sky and shoot whenever there was lightning and rain.

Our school curriculum was dominated by Marxist-Lenin ideologies, fights against imperialism, capitalism and the Khmer Rouge.

At Bak Touk elementary school, the once and only Soviet hot milk I received tasted like heaven. We lived with Soviet and Vietnam-provided food supply. Rice was limited, meat was scarce. We always checked the amount of food first before we ate – worried that if we ate too much, there wouldn’t be enough for tomorrow. Malnutrition and malnourishment was clearly reflected in the physical development of our generation. 

Hun Sen: Peace in his own words

Khmer Times, Opinion, 1 February 2022, (Link)

 A man that is known far too much for his harsh words but very less on his dedication to peace. His harshness is otherwise a reflection of his unyielding dedication to peace that he did not enjoy during his youth. It was the lost three decades for Cambodian nation as a whole, not just for himself.

He has lived in a country that had never known a united rule and government, more often than not a country that was marred with civil strife with a very few occasion of known uninterrupted peace for less than ten or twenty years.

“Cham Srok San Tran”, or “to wait for a peaceful homeland” was the word that Cambodian seniors like to say so much but most of them already lost their lives before they saw this unachievable dream of Cambodian people realised.

“A small country like Cambodia which  was broken into more than two ruling factions was a bitter experience. We had from the French colonial era many Cambodian factions colouring themselves blue, red, pink, white, etc. In between 1970 to 1975, Cambodia was under two factions and there was genocide between 1975 and 1979. From 1979 to 1993, Cambodia was under four ruling factions and again under two factions between 1993 and 1998.” (27 December 2006)

“As we now have peace that enables in infrastructural developments, we should not let it slip off our hands. Take for instance, these areas along the mountains of Kravanh and Aoral, previous administrations – including those of the French, the Japanese and then the French again – had so much difficulties to impose their administrative control upon. This area was also former Khmer Rouge commanding headquarters where former Khmer Rouge leaders like Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea hid themselves. If you read the personal history of Khieu Samphan, you will learn that he fled to the forest that links Kompong Speu, Pursath and Koh Kong altogether….That is why I always remind everyone that in the Cambodian history, it was rare that Cambodia was one united country under one rule, one King, one Constitution, Royal Government and army. It has been one of the most difficult tasks to formulate and put into realistic practice of the win-win policy. Though we now have more than one political parties, we have only one King, Constitution, National Assembly, Royal Government, army and one united country.” (28 January 2013)

Peace is like oxygen that we tend to take for granted. You never know that it is important unless you fall in the situation that requires assistance from oxygen machine.

But that can be too late already. And we have seen a lot of countries in the world that are choked with bloodshed because their political parties are breathing the air of antagonism, mutual elimination and power struggles, at the expense national peace.

For Hun Sen, war cannot end war.